Nightmares and Dreamscapes
by eternalsailorsolarwind
Summary: Taito/Yamachi. My take on what the epilogue in episode 50 of 02 should have been. Shounen ai - sort of.


Nightmares and Dreamscapes  
By: eternalsailorsolarwind  
  
  
Disclaimer: Nope, they're still owned by Toei, Saban, and Fox. I just write fanfics. The title is taken from the Stephen King book of novellas by the same name. It is used without permission.  
  
A/N: Taito/Yamachi. At least the coupling, anyway. As usual, I am using the Japanese names for the Digimon characters. This is sort of my take on the epilogue in Episode 50 of 02. Or at least how I think it should have been. It is set in 2027. Warnings for same sex couplings. The song, "Tobira ~ Door" is by the Teenage Wolves. The verses are quoted without permission.   
  
Yamato woke up with a scream lodged in his teeth, aching to be freed. He sat bolt upright in bed, sweat running down his bare body in rivulets. His chest was heaving, trying to take in the cooler air above the bed. Shuddering uncontrollably, he reached out and touched his bedmate, hoping to hell that it was all a dream.  
  
The shaking hand woke his lover, who yawned sleepily as the eyes that Yamato adored focused on him. "Yama-chan? What is it, what's wrong?"  
  
"It...it's nothing. I'm sorry I woke you. Go back to sleep," the disturbed blonde said, cursing his bad luck in waking his partner up.  
  
"It's not 'nothing' if you wake me up in the middle of the night shaking and sweating like Apocalymon is chasing you, Yamato. Now tell me what's wrong."  
  
"I...I had a nightmare, Taichi," the blond man said hesitantly. Even after all these years, he still was plagued with them.  
  
"We all still have them, Yama. Which one was it? Piedmon? Our fight after Cherrymon deceived you? Or the one where the kids ran after Oikawa?" the brunette asked, stroking his love's longish blonde hair to calm him. Yamato had others, but those were the three that bothered him the most.  
  
"No, it was none of those. I've never had this one before. And it totally terrified me."  
  
Taichi looked at his lover with an expressive eyebrow raised, even though he knew Yamato couldn't see it. "Really? What was it about?"  
  
"Us. The Digidestined. But it wasn't the same us."  
  
"Now you have me totally confused, Koi. Mind starting from the beginning?"  
  
So he told Taichi all about his dream. All of the Digidestined as they were now; adults with families and jobs, but everything was totally different. Relationships were drastically altered. No one was partnered with his or her true soul mates. And the careers were insane. When Yamato told Taichi what their jobs had been, his lover nearly fell off the bed, he was laughing so hard.  
  
"Taichi, it's not that funny," Yamato huffed, pulling his off-balance lover back to him.  
  
"I know, Yama-chan, but an =ambassador=? I'm not exactly a political animal, you know," Taichi replied between gasps for breath. Even in the darkness, Yamato could see the redness of his face. "And you as an astronaut? Since when?"  
  
"I know. But...never mind. It's stupid."  
  
Yamato sensed more than saw Taichi cock his head. "I doubt it, Yama-chan. It wouldn't bother you if it was stupid."  
  
That stopped Yamato for a minute. When they had been kids, Taichi had been a bit on the dense side. He still was no genius, but he actually noticed things now without having to be hit over the head with them. "I think my dream may have been about...what could have been."  
  
Before Taichi could say anything, the door was flung open, and two boys and four Digimon rushed into the room. Agumon was flanking the younger of the two, who carried a Koromon in his arms. The elder boy held his Tsunomon tightly, as Gabumon moved with him. "Papa! Daddy! I had a bad dream!" They chorused simultaneously to their fathers.  
  
Taichi and Yamato glanced at each other, and then pulled their boys up into the bed with them (as soon as they threw on some boxers). The Digimon all settled on the bed as well. Taichi held the elder boy in his arms, the one who looked like Yama except he had Taichi's coloring and hair, rocking him slowly. "So, you had a bad dream, Tetsuro? What was it about?"  
  
Yamato held their younger son, who resembled Taichi, except he had Yamato's hair and color. It was an old joke between the Digidestined how the children of the Ishida-Yagami household were clones of their fathers - with a few slight changes.  
  
Tetsuro told his papa about the bad dream he'd had, where his fathers weren't his fathers anymore. How "Daddy was married to Aunt Sora and they had two kids that weren't me or Hiroshi."  
  
Hiroshi piped up from Yamato's lap, "And you weren't married Papa, but you   
had a little boy. I didn't like it. You forgot all about us."  
  
Taichi blinked as his sons told about their bad dreams, which were starting to sound remarkably like Yama's nightmare. He looked up as he heard a small squeak escape his lover's mouth. Yamato's eyes were wide and not a little wild as the boys continued to tell details of their shared dream. He could tell just from Yama's face that the dreams were the same. It unnerved him to know that the three most important people in his life had been awakened by the same dream. One that Taichi hadn't had.  
  
Taichi knew why he hadn't had the dream. He wasn't that sensitive a person. It had taken him years to learn how to read the nuances in his lover. Normally, his denseness protected him, but not tonight. Now it made him feel like an outsider in his own family. He knew it wasn't intentional, but that didn't make him feel any better. A hand running through his wild hair brought his thoughts up short.   
  
He turned to look at his love and their two children. All three of them were staring at him, wondering about his unusual silence. "Gomen, I was just thinking."  
  
Yamato chuckled softly, "There are a lot of old jokes I could say here, you know."  
  
Taichi laughed, reaching over the kids to squeeze Yama's hand. "Of course, but you wouldn't do that, would you, Koi?" He gave his lover the patented puppy dog-eye treatment. Tetsuro and Hiroshi started to giggle.  
Both men smiled at each other and then at the miracles that were their sons. Their children were biologically theirs, conceived through genetic research that Ken, Jyou, and Koushiro had done. All of the Digidestined's children had been conceived that way, since all of them turned out to be gay. The two men put the children between them, urging them to go back to sleep.  
  
The boys, safe between their fathers, quieted down and quickly fell asleep. Yamato and Taichi watched their sons breathe deeply for a few minutes, settling into their dreams, good ones this time. Reaching out, the two men clasped hands over their sons, and made themselves comfortable.  
  
"They are amazing, aren't they, Tai-chan?" asked Yamato.  
  
"Hai," Tai whispered, grinning. "So, what do you think? Should we have a third kid?"  
"I think we should. Maybe we'll have a girl this time."  
  
Taichi buried his face in his pillow so he wouldn't wake up the children with his laughing. Yamato whapped him on the back of the head to try to shut him up, but it just made his brown haired lover laugh harder. He finally sputtered out, turning his head to tell his love, "The poor girl! Imagine one girl in a houseful of guys!"  
  
The image in his mind set him off again. This time, the boys heard him, fretting in their sleep. Yamato began to softly sing one of Taichi's old favorites, "Tobira ~ Door".  
  
  
"Totsuzen yatte kuru shoutai fumei no fuan itsumo bokura wo neratteru  
Uke uri no chishiki kudaranai joushiki bokura wo madowseru  
  
"Sonna mainichi ni iyake ga sashitara kyouto ni demo yuku no kai?  
Shiranai furi shite sugosu yori mitsumeyou bokura no shinjitsu  
Kore dake wa yuzurenai jibun no puraido mune ni hisomase...  
  
"Hashiridasou dare no tame demo naku tomatteru yotu mashi dakara  
Toumei na kuuki kirisaite mabushii ano umi ni mukatte  
Oh keep on running keep on running  
Find out your reality"  
  
  
  
Yamato was working up to the full song, all six-plus minutes of it. But Taichi noticed that the boys were asleep again, smiling as they heard their father quietly singing. Reaching over his children, Taichi tapped his lover on the arm and pointed to the boys. Glancing down, he smiled and stopped his singing.   
  
"Sorry, Taichi. Once I start singing, I can't seem to stop."  
  
Taichi grinned, "Since when have I ever minded? Its just that I don't find your singing all that relaxing." He chuckled softly. "I find it much more...exciting."  
  
"Why am I not surprised?" Yamato replied, smiling warmly at his love.  
  
The two men settled down, ready to go back to sleep. But Yamato couldn't relax. The dream made him too restless. He listened to the even breathing of his sons, hoping that would let him drift off. Still no luck.  
  
"Would you like some warm milk, Yama?" Taichi asked him quietly.  
  
"You're still awake? Gomen, Tai-chan. I didn't mean to keep you up."  
  
"You didn't, not really. I was just thinking of that dream of yours," replied the brown-haired man. "It made me think of how much I love you and the boys."  
  
Yamato smiled in the darkness, knowing his lover couldn't see it. But it was obvious when he spoke. "I love you too, Taichi. And I adore Tetsuro and Hiroshi. I think we should call Ken first thing in the morning, don't you?"  
  
"Definitely. Let me get you that warm milk."  
  
Taichi crawled out of bed, and walked across the room, limping slightly. It still pained Yamato to see him limp, though it had been more than ten years now. After five years in professional soccer, he had totally blown out his left knee, ending his career.  
  
Yamato still remembered that phone call. He had been in Australia on tour when Hikari had finally gotten through to him. He had cancelled several dates and flew home as soon as possible. Taichi's knee had been replaced with a newer, then-experimental model that was now standard for all knee replacements. Once he had recovered enough to move, Yamato had taken him on tour with him, keeping him close - where they both wanted to be.  
  
Throwing on a robe, Taichi left the bedroom and headed for the kitchen. Yamato smiled at the retreating back of his love. More than twenty-five years together, and he still couldn't get enough of Taichi. And that was the way he liked it. The way both of them liked it.  
  
Now Taichi was the head coach of his old team. He had the knowledge and the skills. As long as he didn't overdo it, he could even play a little. Which was a good thing, as both boys loved to play with him, even at their young age. He was the perfect choice for coach. It had taken him several years of working up through the ranks, but he was now at the top. And this year they had gone all the way. His team was on its way to the World Cup.   
  
Taichi returned with the warm milk, turning on the bedside lamp for his lover. Yama sat up, taking the cup from his lover, and smiling gratefully up at him. "Thanks."  
  
"It's no problem, Koi. I know you have that meeting with that group tomorrow," Taichi cocked his head slightly. "Do you think they'll take all the songs?"  
  
Yamato shrugged, "Maybe, maybe not. I know they want to do a remake of   
'Negai Kanaeru Kagi'."  
  
"Your first hit? Are you going to let them?"  
  
"Only if the others do. We own the rights to all of those songs jointly. I don't mind, but the others aren't sure yet." Yamato sighed. "I hope they agree. This group is a nightmare. They want the songs to be written a certain way, but none of them can write lyrics! If the guys don't agree, this new group may not buy all the songs. Or any of them."  
  
Taichi chuckled, "It's not like you're not the best lyricist in Japan, Yama-chan. If these guys don't want your songs, another hundred bands will."  
  
"True."  
  
"I stand corrected, the best and most =modest= lyricist in Japan," Taichi   
chuckled, reaching to turn the lamp off. "Come on love, let's get some sleep. You've got that meeting, and I have practice in the morning."  
  
Disrobing, Taichi got back in the bed, and snuggled up to his family. Reaching across his sons, he took Yamato's hand. "I know it bothered you, Yama, but it =was= just a dream. Even if it was what might have happened, this is what did happen."  
  
Yamato smiled warmly at his love, even though Taichi couldn't see it. "You're right, Tai-chan. It was just a dream. It was terrifying though, knowing that it might have actually happened. Especially since I knew it was wrong. I belong with you, not Sora."  
  
Taichi levered himself up on an elbow, and leaned over to kiss Yamato. "And I belong with you."  
  
The kiss lasted several seconds, and then the two lovers settled back on either side of their sons. Taichi began to chuckle, "I can't wait to tell Ken that he was married to Miyako in your dream. He's gonna freak."  
  
"Tai-chan! Go back to sleep! You can torment him tomorrow."  
  
"Hai, Yama-chan. I wonder how the others would take that dream," mused   
Taichi, chastened.  
  
  
Elsewhere in Japan at that moment:  
  
In Tamachi, a cinnamon-haired sculptor woke his blue-haired research scientist lover with a scream.  
  
Odaiba: A dark-haired judge woke up his blonde counselor love by sitting   
straight up in bed and grabbing for him.  
  
Tokyo: A medical researcher woke up his red-haired digital researcher mate by sitting bolt upright in bed and letting out a loud screech.  
  
Kyoto: Both a photographer and her computer programmer lover awoke reaching for the other, frightened beyond anything they had ever experienced before.  
  
Nagano: A currently pink-haired Ikebana master woke her auburn-haired   
professor lover crying out her name.  
  
  
All of the dreamers said the same thing to their lovers: "I just had the worst nightmare ever. Everything was different! You were with...."  
  
  
  
A/N2: I've been thinking about this ever since I saw the Japanese version of the epilogue on Claymore's site months ago. It just took a long time to get it written down. ^^; In case anyone is wondering who I paired up, all the pairs are the more "normal" yaoi/yuri pairs. Taito, Kensuke, Mira, etc. Below is a list of the jobs I came up with given the kids interests in 2002. Or at least something that's a little closer to their personalities. I know things can change, but I think this is a little closer than what Toei came up with.  
  
  
Taichi: Professional Soccer Coach  
Yamato: Lyricist  
Sora: College Professor (She was actually the hardest. I had to guess.)  
Mimi: Ikebana Master  
Koushiro: Digital Researcher  
Jyou: Medical Researcher  
Takeru: Counselor (Gives Hope to the hopeless)  
Iori: Judge  
Hikari: Photographer  
Miyako: Computer Programmer  
Daisuke: Sculptor (I liked the idea of him as an artist, but I don't want to go the same route as other writers have done.)  
Ken: Research Scientist/Owner of a Research company  
  



End file.
